NC judge orders inmates freed from life sentences for time credits and 1970s cap on life terms

First NC inmates ordered freed under life term cap

RALEIGH, N.C. — Two convicted murderers should be released immediately after good behavior credits shortened life sentences that were already capped under a 1970s law, a judge ruled Monday in a blow to Gov. Beverly Perdue’s attempt to keep potentially dozens of murderers and rapists behind bars.

Alford Jones, 55, and Faye Brown, 56, are the first two convicts to win a court order for release by arguing time credits cut years off of life terms that were limited to 80 years under the law at the time they were convicted.

Superior Court Judge Ripley Rand issued written orders in the cases of Jones and Brown that the inmates should be released no later than 5 p.m. on Monday. A spokeswoman for Attorney General Roy Cooper said his office plans to appeal.

“I’m furious,” Perdue told reporters while visiting Camp Lejeune, vowing again to try and stop the release. “I have been really angry about this whole process.”

Rand said the Department of Correction was wrongly interpreting its regulations on sentence-reduction credits.

It’s not clear how the ruling will affect some two dozen other inmates who are in similar situations to Jones and Brown. After state courts defined their sentences as only 80 years, officials had scrambled to prepare them for release.

Attorneys for Jones and Brown had argued that they had received years of sentence-reduction credits while behind bars. They contended in court hearings last week that the credits and the old limit on the length of life terms mean their prison time is complete.

Sarah Jessica Farber, one of the attorneys for the inmates, praised Rand’s decision.

“It’s really straightforward and reflects what we’ve said all along: This is pretty simple,” she said.

State lawyers had argued that the credits awarded to Jones and Brown were to be used for purposes of parole eligibility and other matters. They also said the Correction Department has never given sentence-reduction credits to inmates with life sentences.

Rand, however, said the inmates were allowed to and did receive credits — discounts that should be applied to the 80-year terms.

“The Department of Correction could have put into effect rules awarding sentence reduction credits only for the purposes of parole eligibility, custody determinations, and sentence commutation calculations and not for the calculation of an unconditional release date,” Rand wrote. “It did not.”